1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and method for geo-coding user generated content. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for geo-coding a plurality of user generated content.
2. Description of Related Art
With the widespread use of Global Position System (GPS) sensors, geographic identifiers are commonly used to track vehicles and to help drivers find a particular location. Geocoding is the process of assigning geographic identifiers such as latitude, longitude, or Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) to information. The information having the geographic coordinates can be mapped and entered into a Geographic Information System (GIS). These location tags may also take the form of an actual address which can be translated into latitude and longitude.
An illustrative example of geocoded information is a geocoded photo. The geocoded photo is an image that is associated with a geographical location. A geocoded image can be associated to geographic coordinates such as latitude and longitude or a physical address. In theory, every part of a picture can be tied to geographic location, but in the most typical application, only the position of the photograph is associated with the entire digital image.
There are various methods for geocoding images. For example, using a location aware device such as a GPS receiver, the location of the camera used to take a particular photo is recorded. Although most digital cameras presently available do not contain a built in GPS receiver, an external GPS device can be used to keep track of the camera location and the data can be synchronized using specialized software.
Regretfully, the process of geo-coding user generated content is a relatively challenging and time consuming task. For example, the currently available location aware devices are specialized devices that do not integrate with other electronic devices that may be used to gather or capture user generated content. Thus, it becomes quite challenging to geo-code user generated content that is generated from a first device with location specific content that is generated by another device that has different capabilities.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide a simplified system and method for geo-coding user generated content.